ED’s noose tightens around Robert Vadra and his associates

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at multiple places linked to Robert Vadra. As usual, it drew massive protest from Congress accusing the government of political vendetta.

The raids have been carried out at Sukhdev Vihar, New Delhi, Bengaluru and also the residence of his associate in Noida. The raids were conducted in the case of purported commission by arms deal Sanjay Bhandari in defense deals.

It was reported that in the raids, several documents were seized and statements were recorded. ED was trying to get a grip on two employees and a close associate of Robert Vadra. Robert Vadra called the raids as ‘Political witch-hunt’ aimed to tarnish his reputation. But the question here is if everything is right why he and all of the Congress party are under a sense of fear.

Clearly shaken by the raids, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “Sure shot defeat in 5 States unnerves Modi Govt. to again use the old tools – unleash revenge & vendetta against Mr. Robert Vadra to divert the narrative. Such cowardice & intimidation will not subjugate either the Congress Party or the will of people.

Satyamev Jayate!”

I-T department had conducted searches on defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari and his associates in 2016. The raids unearthed some sensitive documents related to defense deals. These investigations also led them to emails exchange between one of Vadra’s associates and Sanjay’s secretary. A flat in London was gifted as reimbursement of information exchange.

Vadra and his lawyer had denied any connection with the fugitive Sanjay Bhandari. However, the facts state another story. According to media reports, Sanjay Bhandari forged a parallel political-bureaucratic universe to provide him assistance and influence in arms deals under UPA regimes. Bhandari’s company OIS has a miserable track record. OIS virtually shut down in 2017 and Bhandari fled to London even as an investigation was initiated in February 2017. In fact, in May 2016 serious allegations surfaced against Bhandari. ED raided his offices in New Delhi on the charges of wrongly influencing defense deals. He was also booked under the Official Secrets Act. It is shocking that the Gandhi family and the Congress was ready to offer such a crucial deal to OIS having a miserable track record only because he shared a proximity with “the family’s” son-in-law.

Vadra is already under investigation by the ED in a money-laundering case related to “fraudulent” land deals in Bikaner. Summons have been issued to him three times but he refused to honor two previous notices and instead sent his representatives. It is very obvious that Robert Vadra never feared any consequence under the UPA rule. It is unimaginable to think of any such investigation taking place under Congress government where government investigating bodies like CBI, ED or I-T were politically influenced.

In the last week, ED has considerably tightened its noose around Robert Vadra’s shady financial dealings and these raids are bound to uncover more secrets of scams perpetrated under the UPA era. The government’s recent drive against scam accused whether Robert Vadra, Christian Michel, P Chidambaram or even National Herald accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi is indicative of the fact that the government is working with a singular objective of bringing the culprits to justice irrespective of their political clout.